Business Engagement, Careers and Employability

Working with Us

The University of Suffolk is a business embracing organisation committed to working with you to help your business grow through innovation, enterprise and knowledge exchange.  You can access the best in graduate talent and academic expertise here to accelerate your growth and development.

We want to work with you to ensure the University works for business and employers, continuing to have a demonstrable economic impact on our locality and further afield whilst learning from you and bringing you into our community.

We can provide access to students, graduates, apprentices, state of the art facilities, Innovation Labs at University of Suffolk, meeting room hire, business networks, funding opportunities, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, CPD and short courses, events and enterprise skills development, consultancy and collaborative research to name but some of the opportunities available when you choose to work with University of Suffolk.

There are no barriers to working with University of Suffolk to grow your business regardless of whether you are an SME or a larger organisation. In fact there is more funding and drivers than ever before for business to engage with higher education, realising the targets of the Industrial Strategy, and making an impact on the productivity and economic success story of a region.  The team at University of Suffolk understand the needs and timescales of businesses wishing to compete in an ever competitive environment. Being a young University is an enabler here as we are able to move fast to help meet the needs of our business community. 

To contact the team or sign up to our quarterly newsletter, visit our 'get in touch' page

Funded or Free programmes

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Explore how you or your business could benefit from our range of activities such as innovation vouchers and internships. 

Venue Hire and Facilities

Participants at the Smarter Suffolk Hackathon at the Digitech Centre Adastral Park

Fully AV equipped meeting and seminar rooms, informal mind-mapping room plus digital equipment available, 3D printing services. 

CPD and Short Courses

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The University of Suffolk is one of the providers of choice for the delivery of CPD and short courses in the region, including ILM 3 and 5 and bespoke courses. 

Higher and Degree Apprenticeships

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Working with many local employers for a range of Higher and Degree Apprenticeships.

Our Alumni Community

Welcome to the Alumni Community

The Alumni Relations and Development Team continue to support and engage with our graduates long after they have completed their studies with us

Careers, Enterprise & Employability Service

Careers and employability

The Careers, Employability and Enterprise Service provides students with the information, advice and guidance they need before, during and after graduating.

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Innovation Labs

Innovation Labs at University of Suffolk is the our focal point for developing new entrepreneurs and innovative Start Ups. As well as hot-desk space, we have meeting, seminar rooms and digital equipment available available to members and non-members. And as part of the wider Innovation Labs group, we offer wraparound support to members. 

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Games hub

The Games Hub is based within the Atrium building for computer games design students to develop ideas, access competitions, programmes and events.

Case studies and Success Stories

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Read about how the University has worked with, supported, incubated or provided skills and talent to help grow and develop businesses. 

Ways of Working with Your University

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Data protection and Privacy Notice

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Please read our privacy notice, which outlines how we collect and use your information.

Business Engagement, Careers and Employability

Meet the team

Gurpreet is the Pro Vice-Chancellor Business and Entrepreneurship at the University of Suffolk, with responsibility for Suffolk Business School, driving business engagement across the institution and region and leading the development of enterprise and entrepreneurship. Gurpreet has...

Megan is the Professional Assistant to Pro Vice-Chancellor Business and Entrepreneurship, Professor Gurpreet Jagpal and Business Engagement, Careers and Employability (BECE) team administrator. ...

Emma is responsible for the strategic direction of the Business Development and Knowledge Exchange (BDKE) team. The BDKE team is responsible for developing external, commercial relationships and building partnerships between organisations and academics. This engagement activity will...

Amy joined the University of Suffolk in August 2021 as Head of Careers, Employability and Enterprise, and is responsible for the leadership and strategic oversight of the team, whilst also being heavily involved in wider University work and activity in this area. Amy is a Registered...

Alice joined the University of Suffolk in January 2022 as Development Director, overseeing the University’s alumni relations, fundraising and development activity. Her background is in arts and charity fundraising and income generation, development and operations management. She h...

Kate is the Alumni Relations and Development Manager within the Business Engagement, Careers and Employability Directorate.  She works alongside the Development Director leading on all Alumni Relations activity and supporting the development of fundraising activity across the ins...

Yvonne has extensive experience in education and training leading to a sustained record of success in further education and apprenticeships. Yvonne led a retail and commercial enterprise apprenticeship department to achieve outstanding for 'employer responsiveness' during a 2010 Ofs...

Working closely with both the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Institute for Social Justice and Crime, India is responsible for identifying and driving knowledge exchange activities, and developing lasting partnerships between the University and local organisations....

Ian’s role is to enable business and industry to connect with the University’s academic expertise and to grow partnerships with local organisations.  Knowledge exchange activities may include collaborative projects, research and continuing professional development.  Ian has re...

Malcolm’s role is to act as a conduit between the business world and the academic expertise available at the University of Suffolk. This can take the form of executive education and CPD training provided by or in partnership with leading academics to upskill its people in ever cha...

Kenny has been brokering connections between academia and business for over 20 years. He particularly enjoys using his expertise to  transfer knowledge and underlying skills to create new innovative products and services for economic growth. Kenny believes a key part of every succe...

Cathy Johnson joined the Careers, Employability and Entrepreneurship team in February 2023 and is aligned to the School of EAST. Cathy supports students through the Placement process, from searching and applying for Professional Placements (Sandwich years) or shorter placements whic...

Deborah Sullivan supports the work of the Business Engagement team including internal and external communications as well as ensuring all the administrative requirements of the team are met. A successful business manager previously working in account and sales management in the IT...

Vivian Luan supports the operation of the Innovation Lab University of Suffolk with a focus on the administrative requirements of running the centre as well as all knowledge exchange activities.   ...

Annabelle manages the Micro-Placements Scheme; enabling students to take on real responsibility by working on live projects, or with services/facilities delivered within the University.  Annabelle supports them in reflecting and developing the skills they need to compete in the ...

Sonia is the Careers and Employability Adviser working closely with the School of Engineering, Arts, Science, and Technology (EAST) offering curriculum-based sessions, workshops, and 1-2-1 career coaching appointments.  ...

Jon provides dedicated compliance support for apprenticeship funded programmes as part of the Apprenticeship Hub and will be developing internal audit practices to embed quality at the core of the delivery for Work Based Learning provision. ...

Hayden Jarrett supports the work of the Business Engagement, Careers and Employability teams, he began as an administrator for the Careers and Business Development team but is now the Data Analyst for the Careers, Employability and Enterprise Team, he analyses all the data in regard...

Anna has worked with Apprentices for 4 years, both as an Employer and in Higher Education. After completing her own successful Apprenticeship, Anna found a passion for supporting Apprentices to reach their full potential, applying many years of experience as a trainer to her role in...

Anna joined the University of Suffolk in 2019. She is an Employability and Careers Consultant specialising in the support of students from underrepresented groups as well as Post Graduate Research students, International students and those studying in the University's Leadership an...

Rachel has worked in education for over 10 years now. After obtaining an Advanced Apprenticeship in Business and Administration, she transitioned into a permanent position supporting students, parents/guardians, academics and business support staff within the Further Education Secto...

Andy has spent most of his career working in the Insurance and Technology sectors, most recently as the Claims Director for a UK accident management company.  He previously worked for a top-tier UK Insurer, predominantly in claims management and organisational change as well as a s...

Bozena (also referred to as Anna) joined the University of Suffolk in Winter 2021 as an Apprenticeship Practice Educator for Health within the Business Engagement and Entrepreneurship team at IWIC. She is a former University of Suffolk student who graduated with  BA (Hons) English...

Maxine joined the University’s Business Engagement Careers and Employability team in 2022 as the Project Administrator supporting the In-Career Education and Training Project (ICET). She is responsible for the administrative processes and financial monitoring of a specified ESF pr...

I have been at the University of Suffolk for the past 3 years as the Suffolk Executive MBA (SEMBA) Programme Leader and acting Programme Leader on the International Business Management programme.  During this time, I have acquired several different roles and redesigned several post...

Senior Lecturer in Marketing.  Fran was previously a Marketing practitioner for 13 years before moving into Marketing lecturing working in London and Essex then joining the University of Suffolk in August 2018 as a Course Leader and Lecturer in Marketing. ...

Leigh works within Registry Services as an Academic Administrator for the Suffolk Business School and various programmes within the School of Engineering, Arts, Science and Technology (EAST). Leigh joined the University of Suffolk in March 2020. ...

Course Leader for the MSc MSc Strategic People Management programme.  Before joining academia, Adetola previously worked in various capacities within financial organisations in the United Kingdom and Nigeria. She joined the University of Suffolk as a Senior Lecturer and Course Le...

I am Professor of Leadership & Management and Associate Dean (Research) at the University of Suffolk Business School. In my research I take a social sciences approach to studying how managers and leaders learn and develop their practice.  Recent projects include Implications of...

Peter is a generalist HR professional with extensive strategic and operational HR and business experience, and first class employment law knowledge. He has operated as a Consultant since 2002. He is capable of working with multi-national organisations through to SMEs across the p...

Tom was recruited by Suffolk Business School in January 2012.  In addition to his lecturing, supervision and research responsibilities, Tom currently leads the Suffolk Business School Doctoral Programme. ...

Research Associate in Leadership and Management Studies.  Laura has just successfully completed her PhD in Management Studies at The Open University. Laura continues her interest in researching precarious events with her PhD concentrating on impacts of Brexit within the UK on migra...

Associate Professor, PGR Supervisor.  Diane is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and personal member of the University Forum for Human Resource Development, having represented the forum at institutional level and holding forum roles alongside holding Director level...

Tom has a teaching and leadership background within primary schools. Tom studied Primary Education BA Hons at The University of Cumbria and taught across Key Stage 2 before moving into leadership as a SENDCo and Assistant Headteacher. Throughout his teaching journey, Tom was also a ...

Darrin joined the University in February 2023 from St Benedict’s Catholic School and is aligned with the School of Social Sciences & Humanities. During his four and a half years as Head of Careers at St Benedict’s he led a complete overhaul of the school’s careers programm...

Vicki joined the University of Suffolk in November 2022 as Futures Manager and is responsible for the development and delivery of the Futures Team which delivers careers, employability, placement, and work-based learning activity both within and outside the curriculum. She has a lon...

Alanna joined the University of Suffolk in January 2023 as the Placement Consultant for the School of Social Science and Humanities. Alanna supports students through the Placement process, from searching and applying for Professional Placements (Sandwich years) or shorter placements...

Laura joined the University of Suffolk in March 2022 as a Student Recruitment Officer before moving into the role of Employability and Careers Consultant in January 2023. ...

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